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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Characterizing Far-infrared Laser Emissions and the Measurement of Their Frequencies
Published on: December 18, 2015
Laser frequency stabilization by modulation transfer spectroscopy and balanced detection of molecular iodine for
Abstract:
We report laser frequency stabilization by the combination of modulation transfer spectroscopy and balanced detection of a relatively weak hyperfine transition of the R(158)25-0 line of molecular iodine (127I2), which is used as a new frequency reference for laser trapping and cooling of 174Yb on the 1S0 - 3P1 transition. The atomic cloud is characterized by time-of-flight measurements, and an on-resonance optical depth of up to 47 is obtained. We show laser noise reduction and characterize the short-term laser frequency instability by the Allan deviation of the laser fractional frequency. The minimum measured value is 3.9 ×10-13 at 0.17 s of averaging time.
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